BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL TO PERFORM SECOND READINGS ON ANNEXATION, BUDGET
The Brenham City Council on Thursday will take up the second readings of several items from its previous meeting, including the annexation and special zoning of roughly 170 acres of land.
Councilmembers spoke at length and heard from numerous residents at their September 4th meeting about the annexation, which covers a total of 171.79 acres on the northwest side of town. Specifically, it is made up of 169.42 acres south and west of Dixie Road and north of Sunset Road, 1.6 acres of right-of-way developed as Dixie Road, and an associated 0.778-acre tract.
The annexation is a companion item to the rezoning of the land as a planned development district, which will allow Stylecraft Builders to proceed with its plans for over 600 lots of new residential development as an extension of the Vintage Farms subdivision.
The council voted 5-2 on annexing the land, with Councilmembers Leah Cook and Adonna Saunders issuing the no votes, but it unanimously approved the rezoning.
The votes came after a large amount of feedback was received by the city in opposition to allowing multifamily space in the development. That led to the developer altering its plans to no longer seek multifamily dwellings, but to instead incorporate other forms of “dense residential” housing like townhomes, twin homes and cluster housing. Some concerns remained present, though, such as how the city would be impacted financially and if its identity would begin to change as the result of large-scale developments like this.
The other second readings for the council will be for adopting the 2025-26 budget and levying the tax rate. The budget of $116,262,861 raises an additional $855,418 in property tax revenue when compared to the past year’s budget, including $191,678 from new property on the tax roll. The tax rate of $0.4676 per $100 is above the previous rate of $0.4584, but is lower than the no-new-revenue rate of $0.4691. It comes with $0.3256 for maintenance and operations, an increase of $0.0092, and $0.1420 for interest and sinking, no change from before.
Also in session, the council will:
- Hold executive session discussion regarding a lease agreement between the city and Washington County related to the Washington County 911 Communications office at 301 North Baylor Street. There will also be consultation with the city attorney concerning a petition received from property owner Ronan Smith, requesting that 22.08 acres of land be released from the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). The item for the release of land from the ETJ will potentially be acted upon on in open session.
- Act on a professional services agreement between the city and Strand Associates for Fiscal Year 2025-26 on-call engineering services.
- Consider the Routine Airport Maintenance Program (RAMP) grant agreement with TxDOT for Fiscal Year 2026.
- Vote on a contract with DBT Transportation Services, LLC related to the support and maintenance of the Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS) at the Brenham Municipal Airport.
The council will meet Thursday at 1 p.m. at Brenham City Hall.
Click here to view the agenda packet for Thursday's meeting.